NDP and Greens call for closure of Pickering Nuclear Station in August

We sent an all-candidates questionnaire to the leaders of the four major parties running in the provincial election. We asked their position on closing the Pickering Nuclear Station, and on water power imports from Quebec.

The NDP and the Green Party are calling for the closure of the Pickering Nuclear Station when its licence expires this August.

The Liberal Party supports the continued operation of the Pickering Nuclear Station until 2024.

The Pickering Nuclear Station is the fourth oldest nuclear plant in North America. It was originally designed to operate for 30 years, but it has now been running for nearly half a century. More than two million people live within 30 km of the Pickering Station – at least twice the number of any other nuclear station on the continent.

A recent report looked at what would happen in the GTA if a major accident occurred at Pickering – similar in scale to the accident that took place at the Fukushima Nuclear Station in Japan. The report found that an accident at Pickering could lead to the evacuation of more than 650,000 people for 30 to 100 years, cause 13,000 cancer deaths, and result in $125 billion in lost real estate value just for single-family homes.

By immediately dismantling and decommissioning Pickering after it closes, we can create 32,000 person-years of direct and indirect employment between now and 2032. This will permit most of the 300 hectare Pickering waterfront site to be revitalized and returned to the local community by 2032.

The full cost of decommissioning can be funded by money that is already in Ontario Power Generation’s Nuclear Decommissioning Fund.

1.This Month

This page has a very useful “SEARCH” function. If you scroll down the right side panel you can use either the categories listed, or the “Search” slot. Type in a name or a place or topic on this slot, and it’s easy to find a related post.

Changing climate change“2040” paints an optimistic picture of the future of the environment

The film focuses on technological and agricultural solutions that are already being implemented to help combat climate change, The Economist Feb 19th 2019

by C.G. | BERLIN ……….In “2040”, a documentary which premiered at the Berlinale, Mr Gameau seeks to wrest hope from the bleak reports of climate change. He was inspired by Project Drawdown, the first comprehensive plan to reverse global warming, and the film is intended as a “virtual letter to his four-year-old daughter to show her an alternative future”. “Many films,” Mr Gameau thinks, are too dystopian, and “paint a future that is really hard to engage and to connect with”. “2040” acknowledges that the Earth has set off down a hazardous path, but focuses on the work that is being done now to steer the right course. What, the film asks, could make 2040 a time worth living in?…. (subscribers only) https://www.economist.com/prospero/2019/02/19/2040-paints-an-optimistic-picture-of-the-future-of-the-environment